Applicator for applying insulation to wire



Dec. 7, ma.

Fil

946 2 Sheets-Sheet l Patented Dec. 7, 1948 APPLIcA'roR Foa APPLYINGINSULATION 'ro WIRE Philip V. Kessler, Phillipsdale, and `lolm B. Moss,Providence, R. I.. assignors to Kennecott Wire and Cable Company,Phillipsdale, R. I., a corporation of Rhode Island l Application March30, 1946, Serial No. 858,544

Claims.

The present invention relates toimprovements in devices for applyingcoatings of insulating material to electric wires, and relates moreparticularly to devices of the character referred to whereby viscousinsulating materials may be applied to electric wires. While the presentinvention is primarily designed to effect the application of coatings ofviscous insulating materials to very i'lne wires, the said applicator isavailable for coating coarser wires.

' One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a superiorapplicator of the character referred to which will reliably apply one ormore` continuous coating of viscous insulating material to a wire. andwhich is economical to produce and maintain.

Another object of the present invention is to provide asuperiorapplicator which includes two members or portions which cooperate toprovide one or more wire-receiving passages and which do not requiredilcult adjustment of the said members or portions with respect to eachother in order to provide such passages.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a simple andeflective applicator of the character referred to by means of which oneor more coatings of viscous insulating material may be applied to a wirein such manner that substantially uniform distribution of the saidmaterial on the wire is assured.

With the above and other objects in view, as will appear to thoseskilled in the art from the present disclosure, this invention includesall features in the said disclosure which are novel over the prior art.

In the accompanying drawings, in which certain modes of carrying out thepresent invention are shown for illustrative purposes:

Fig. 1 is a broken top or plan view of an applicator-assembly embodyingthe present invention with the supporting-means partly broken away;

Fig. 2 is an edge view of the showing of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 Is a fragmentary view of a portion oi' the l two complimentalapplicator-plates on a very much enlarged scale and showing a wirelocated therein but omitting the insulating material;

Fig. 4 is a broken vertical sectional view on substantially the scale ofFig. 3, and taken on the line 4 4 of either Fig. 1, or Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a broken top or plan view of a fragment of one of thecomplementa] applicatorplates, detached; and

Fig. 6 is a similar view of the other applicator-v plate, detached.

As shown, the applicator includes two cooperating applicator-platesrespectively designated by the referance characters I0 and I I andnormally held in edge-to-edge contact, as shown.

The applicator-plates I0 and II are respectively secured to supportingplates I2 and I3or other suitable support by means of screws I4 or theirequivalent.

The applicator-plate I0 has the under portion of its inner edge beveledas atI, in opposition to a bevel I6 on the companion applicator-plateII.

The arrangement of the respective bevels I5 and I6 oi' theapplicator-plates l0 and II serves to provide in the under face of theassembly between the respective inner faces of the supporting-bars I2and I3, an upwardly-and-inwardly converging V-shaped channel. It will benoted by reference to Fig. 2 in particular that the extents of thebevels I5 and I0 Just eferred to, are such as to leave theapplicator-plates I0 and II with narrow parallel inner edges which abutone against the other.

In its inner edge the applicator-plate I0 is formed with eight (more orless) notch-like wirereceiving passages respectively designated by thereference characters Ila to Il h inclusive andA to apply repeatedcoatings of insulating material to the same wire such as the wire I8indicated in Figs. 3 and 4. It may further be assumed that the wireI8'is #38 (American wire gauge) and therefore about .004" in diameter.Under the assumptions just noted the passages I1a and I'Ib may be about.0042" in width (In a direction of the length of the applicator-plateIll) and of a substantially-corresponding depth. Under these conditionsthe `succeeding pairs of passages I'lc-Ild, Ile-Ilf, and Ilg-Ilh mayrespectively have dimensions of the character referred to amounting to.0045", .005" and .0056".

Any suitable arrangement of pulleys or rollers (not shown) may bearranged to guide different reaches of the same wire, such as the wireI8, upwardly in succession through the notch-like wirereceiving passagesIla to I 'Ih inclusive to apply to the said reaches successive coatingsof a suitable viscous insulating'material I9. Preferably, each coatingwill be thoroughly dried or set before a subsequent coating is applied.It may be here mentioned that it is common and well un- 3 derstood inthe art to apply a series of insulating coatings to a conductor withintervening drying (as by an oven) between coatings.

The particular composition of the insulating material I9 is of no vitalimport and may for instance consist of suitable synthetic resins orcombinations thereof having the desired dielectric strength.

The wire I8. in moving upwardly through a given notch-likewire-receiving passage, will drag up with it a mass o1 viscousinsulating material I9 from a suitable reservoir. Thesaid insulatingmaterial (Fig. 4) will swell out into the V-shaped channel in the underface of the assembled applicater-plates I and II (the said channel beingformed by the bevels I5 and I6), but the amount passing` completelythrough the said passages will be determined by lthe space between theouter periphery of a given reach of the wire I8 and the adjacentboundaries cf the wire-receiving passage through which the said reach ismoving.

When a wire such as I8 is moving upwardly through a given one of thenotch-like wire-receiving passages I'Ia to IIh, inclusive, the cornersof the given passage adjacent the edge of the applicator-plate I I willnot of course be intruded into by said Wire. Thiswill result inpermitting a greater amount of insulation I9 to move upwardly throughthe said passage at the locations referred to than will be the case atother portions of the passage where the latter approximates and closelyapproaches the contour of the wire. The areas free for the upwardmovement of insulating material I9 may be considered as being offillet-shape as indicatedby the reference characters -20 in Fig. 3.

With very viscous insulating materials, the portion thereof passing upthrough the areas indicated at 2li-20, would be likely to cause anuneven coating on the Wire since such viscous insulating material haslimited capacity for evening itself out in a circumferential direction.In order to compensate for the insulating material I9 moving upwardlythrough the areas 2li-20, it is preferred to form a notch-likecompensatingpassage 2|, in the outer wall of each of the passages I'Iato I'Ih inclusive.

Each of the compensating-passages 2I preferably has a cross-sectionalarea substantially corresponding to the combined cross-sectional areasof the adjacent fillet-like portions 2li- 20, so that viscous insulatingmaterial will come up through the given passage 2| simultaneously withthat portion of the insulating material moving upwardly through theareas 2li-'20, and when the coated wire has moved upwardly suicientlybeyond the upper face of the compiemental applicater-plates I0 and II,the insulating coating will even itself out and form a coating ofsubstantially uniform depth entirely around the circumference of thewire I8.

By forming a given notch-like passage such as any one of the notchesI'Ia to IIh inclusive, solely in one of the applicator-plates and thenclosing the lateral, boundary of such a passage by the ill cator of thepresent invention have provided far greater continuity of insulationthan it has been possible to produce on applicators at present in use,and at fa'r greater speed. Furthermore. the applicator of the presentinvention has permitted the use of v ery viscous coating material thuseliminating the requirement for using large amountsof solvents ordiluting materials in order to insure that the coating will becontinuous.

Very little attention is required by an operator in using the applicatorof the present invention and there is negligible, if any, tendency ofthe insulating material to drip :back onto the upper surface of theapplicator-plates to thus cause rough surfaces on the Wire.

The invention may be carried out in other specific ways than thoseherein set forth without departing from the spirit and essentialcharacteristics of the invention. and the present embodiments are,therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and notrestrictive, and all changes coming within the meaning and equivalencyrange of the appended claims are intended to be embraced therein.

We claim:

1. An applicator for applying viscous insulating material to wire,including in combina-tion: a nrst portion having an inner edge and a.notch-like wire-receiving passage formed in the said inner edge: and asecond portion separable from the said first portion and having an inneredge abutting against the said inner edge of the first mem- -lier andextending uninterruptedly across fthe open side of the notch-likepassage therein and closing the same; the said wire-receiving passagehaving a wall directed generally toward the abutting inner edge of thesaid second portion and formed with a compensating-passage communicatinglaterally with the said wire-receiving passage.

2. An applicator for applying viscous insulating material to wire,including in combination: a rst applicator-plate having an inner edgeand a notch-like wire-receiving passage formed in the said inner edge;and a second applicator-plate separable from the said rstapplicator-plate and having an inner edge abutting against the saidinner edge of -the first applicator-plate and extending uninterruptedlyacross 4the open side of the notch-like passage therein and closing thesame; the said wire-receiving passage 4having a wall directed generallytoward the abutting inner edge of the said second applicator-plate andformed with a compensating-passage communieating laterally with the saidwire-receiving passage. i

3. An applicator for applying viscous insulating material to wire,including in combination: a rst applicator-plate having a beveled inneredge and formed in its said inner edge with a notch-like wire-receivingpassage; and a second applicator-plate also having a beveled inner edgeabutting against the said inner edge of the nrst applicator-plate andextending uninterruptedly across the open side of the notch-likewire-receiving pass-age therein to close the same; the saidwire-receiving passage having a wall directed generally toward theabutting edge of the said second applicator-plate and formed with acompensating-passage communicating laterally with Ithe saidwire-receiving passage.

4. An applicator for applying viscous insulating material to wire,including in combination: a first applicator-plate having alongitudinally straight inner edge and formed in its said inner edgewith a plurality of spaced-apart notch-like wire-receiving passages; anda second applicator- .plate also having a longitudinally-straight inneredge abutting against the said inner edge oi the mst applicator-plateand extending uninterruptedly across the open side of each of theplurality oi notch-like wire-receiving passages therein to v close -thesame.

5. 'An applicator for applying viscous insulating material to wire,including in combination: a`

iirst applicator-plate having a longitudinallystraight beveled inneredge and formed in its .said

edge with a plurality of spaced-apart notch-like` wire-receiving'passages: and a second applicatorplate also having alongitudinally-straight beveled inner edge abutting against the inneredge of the rst applicator-plate and extending uninter- -ruptedly acrossthe open side of each of the plurality of notch-like wire-receivingpassages 'therein to close the same; each oi' the said wire-recel Iingpassages having a substantially semiclrcular wall directed toward theabutting edge ofthe said second applicator-plate and formed with acompensating-passage communicating laterally .withthesaidwire-recelvingpassage. l f

Y PHILIP V. KESSIER..

JOHN B. MOSS.

Flynn Jan. 19, 1943

